Virar hospital fire: NOC from fire department had expired in March

On Friday, a pre-dawn fire incident at the facility claimed the lives of 15 patients admitted in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU). Pics/Hanif Patel

It has now come to the fore that the NOC from the fire department at Virar's Vijay Vallabh Hospital had expired on March 13 this year. On Friday, a pre-dawn fire incident at the facility claimed lives of 15 patients admitted in the ICU. mid-day has a copy of this expired NOC, issued on March 14, 2020, which was valid only for a year.

Rajnish Kumar, proprietor of private certified agency RAV Fire Services, shows proof that the fire audit contract had been terminated by the hospital

Bastimal Shah, one of the partners of the hospital, clarified that the NOC was renewed and that a fire audit was conducted by a private agency in the initial weeks of March. A Form B had been submitted to the Vasai Virar City Municipal Corporation (VVCMC) in this regard, he added. "But, the VVCMC is yet to give us the renewed letter of the NOC," Shah told mid-day.

When mid-day contacted the private certified agency RAV Fire Services, its proprietor Rajnish Kumar said, "The hospital has discontinued taking fire services from us on March 19, 2021. The hospital breached the contract and sent us an email asking to terminate it. On March 20, we replied mentioning that ‘as you have not served the notice of 30 days, you have violated the breach of trust but still we give our confirmation of discontinuation of fire AMC wef April 1, 2021. Our team will be available as per your convenience to support you till March 31'."

Kumar also accused the hospital of not clearing their outstanding bill of Rs 16,968. The crime branch Unit 3 of Mira Bhayandar Vasai Virar (MBVV) police has started investigation. On Friday, Kumar was called in by the police.

Sources told mid-day that after terminating the contract with RAV Fire Services, the hospital enrolled another private agency called Bright Infra System Private Limited. The office of Bright Infra System Private Limited confirmed that around 15 days ago, the fire AMC in-charge Vikram Bhoir had visited the hospital. When this correspondent contacted Bhoir, he confirmed to have visited the hospital to provide fire services as per the contract.

Sources said that the refilling of fire extinguishers installed at the ICU, dialysis room, Operation Theatre (OT) store and OT room had expired on March 4 this year. "Its ICU beds were separated by curtains, and when the incident took place, the curtains made of cotton and nylon caught fire, causing a massive disaster. Had the ICU beds been separated by concrete walls, the number of casualties could have lessened," said the source.